A girl came up in a bikini, if you wanted to call it that. We were in between the lunch and dinner rushes. She looked at both of us and then set her sights on Cal. I guessed she liked the more clean cut look, not my tatted up arms and chest.

“Hey, sexy. Can I get a piña colada?”

I almost groaned at the memory of the lady in Denver, but at least here we were on the beach. The look in Cal’s eyes as he snapped them to me and then back to her told me he was interested. I wondered how many girls hit on him on a daily basis and what he did about it. Today was only day two for me, and on day one I’d already partaken in what the beach had to offer. He’d said he was newly single, so what did he have to lose?

Geena. Images of her bent over, taking it from behind while she called out my name filled my brain. I had stamina, and she’d had no problem keeping up with me. She’d met me match for match the entire few hours I’d been there. The thought of her breasts filling my hands and her—.

“Earth to Johnny,” Cal interrupted. Busted. I nodded over at him. “That girl just invited me up to her room.”

I looked over at the girl who couldn’t be more than twenty, turning back to look at Cal every few seconds as she walked away. The string bikini she wore didn’t leave much to the imagination and she had a rockin’ body. Too young and not my taste, but hey, if she was willing, why not.

“Go for it, man. You said yourself you’re unattached.”

He held out his arm. “She wrote her room number on my arm. I don’t even know her name.”

I thought back to Geena again. She hadn’t known my name until we’d been practically naked, just the way I liked it. I was definitely looking forward to meeting up with her again tonight.

“Do you not do this sort of thing often?”

Cal shrugged. “I’ve had a few one-night stands, but I usually know them or know someone who knows them. I don’t usually pick up girls here.”

“Just be careful she doesn’t want something more,” I warned. I’d been there, done that. “She doesn’t seem like she does, but just make sure.” I had radar now and could smell them a mile away.

Cal nodded, eyeing me like he wanted to ask something. I turned away, effectively shutting down whatever it was. I’d be friendly with him, but I wasn’t getting all feminine and shit. I didn’t talk about my life. Period.

I wiped my hands on the bar towel after wiping the sweat off of my forehead again. It had rained a few hours ago and it was now sweltering, the humidity making my Outrigger shirt stick to me like a second skin. I liked it in Florida, but the temperature was definitely something to get used to.

“Johnny.” I knew who it was instantly. I deserved him coming here. I looked over my shoulder at my sister’s husband, then down the bar at Cal.

“Cal,” I called out. “I’m taking fifteen, okay?” He nodded, turning back to talk to a patron. “Want a beer?”

“Sure,” Carter said. I tried to read if he was angry, but the guy was a steel trap. If I’d been angry, he sure as shit would’ve been able to tell. I admired the man. I poured us two mugs of beer and walked around the bar, indicating a table out of the way. If he wanted to punch me, I’d go outside as to not upset Cal.

I sat, crossing my arms in front of me as I waited for what he was going to say. I was sure he hadn’t come down here just to shoot the shit.

“I talked to Julia,” Carter began.

“Carter, I’m sorry.”

He furrowed his brow. “Sorry for what? Julia is upset. Why are you doing this?”

I deserved his anger, but I hated that my sister was upset. “She woke me up and . . .”

“What do you mean, she woke you up?”

I eyed him across the table. What was he talking about? “Carter, I’m not understanding.”

“Why are you going to find another place to stay when the whole reason you came here was to be with Julia and the baby?”

I breathed out. She hadn’t told him. “She didn’t tell you the rest.” I wasn’t going to lie to the man. I deserved whatever I got from him.

“Tell me what.” Carter’s eyes darkened, and he leaned closer to me. That was a feeling I could understand. He was defending his wife, and I loved him for that. He cared for her like I did. Well, like I had until I’d hurt her.

“I was sleeping this morning after you left. I was having a nightmare, and Julia woke me up.”

Carter furrowed his brow. “And?”

“I didn’t know,” I said, looking down at the table before forcing myself to look at him. “I grabbed her. I wasn’t awake . . .”

“You grabbed her how?”

My eyes wanted to close against the vision of hurting my sister, but I refused to let them. I deserved the pain. “I was squeezing her arms. I didn’t know it was her, but it doesn’t give me any right.”

Carter looked at me for so long, I wondered if he had heard me. “What were you dreaming about, Johnny?”

My mouth dropped open. He wanted to know what I was dreaming about? “What?”

“Talk to me,” Carter said, sounding just like Julia again. “I know you won’t talk to her, and there isn’t anyone else you confide in.”

I picked up the beer mug and chugged, fury spreading through my chest like wildfire. “You want to know what I was dreaming about when I hurt your wife? What the hell is wrong with you? You’re supposed to stick up for her! I’m nothing but cancer for both of you!”

Carter let me finish, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest. “Are you done?”

“Done with what?” Yeah, I was pissed for no good reason.

“You aren’t going to make me hate you, Johnny.”

“I fucking hurt her, Carter,” I hissed.

“Did she tell you she was okay?”

“Of course she did. She would never admit that I scared her, or hurt her.”

“She didn’t tell me you hurt her.”

“That’s because she was trying to protect me.”

Carter laughed. “Protect you? From me? Dude, you could squash me like a bug.”

“I’d welcome the pain from you, Carter. I won’t fight back.”

Carter sighed. “I’m not going to hit you, Johnny.”

“Why?”

“You’re my family, bro. Like it or not, we’re in this together. Okay, so you had an issue this morning. I know you would never in a million years hurt Julia on purpose. So we’re good.”

“We can’t be good.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I can’t trust myself around her now. And what about the baby? What if I did something to her?”

“You’re being a little melodramatic now. Last I checked, Calia sleeps in a crib and isn’t going to be in your room waking you up from a nightmare. You need to stop this, Johnny.”

“Stop what?” I knew I was acting like an asshole, and Carter didn’t deserve my attitude.

“Punishing yourself. Whatever you went through that you won’t talk about, it’s eating you inside. I know you refuse to admit that you need help, but don’t you ever want to move past what is torturing you?”

Did I want to? Yes, of course, I did. Did I think I could? No. “Carter . . .”

“I can’t pretend I know what your life was like,” Carter continued. “But what I do know is you have two people that love you and are here for you. We aren’t turning our backs on you, Johnny. No matter how much you try to push us away.”

Just then I saw Geena strutting across the bar, her eyes locked onto me. Shit. I didn’t want Carter to see her here. Not that I was ashamed because I wasn’t, but that didn’t mean I wanted to flaunt my escapades to my brother-in-law, either. Before I could think of a way to stop her, she was at our table.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” she purred. My dick instantly hardened when I saw her nipples straining against the thin fabric of her cover-up. The see through fabric displayed her fucking fabulous body in a teeny bathing suit, just one string tied on the sides keeping me from seeing her.